Even though I played Hadean Lands and Worldsmith side by side, I'm not going to compare and contrast. I think that would be unfair. They are very different games.

Although there are some similarities. They are both big-ass science fiction blockbusters. They both have complicated and integrated puzzle systems.

Enough. I said I wouldn't.

Worldsmith has been written for me. I think the author went into my brain and splooged out the 'what do you like' section and set it into text adventure form.

I'm building worlds and stuff is happening on the worlds I've just built and I'm thinking 'this is a super-cool' thing. And then it turns out that that's just the first puzzle in a massive game.

And after I've built worlds, a ton of cool stuff happens: (I'm going to put the rest of the review in a spoiler tag.)

(Spoiler - click to show)- I'm exploring a massive space station - There's a totally unexpected and surprising plot. - I'm flying - I'm playing the Game of Worlds. And this is worth the price of admission alone. It's sort of a strategy card game a bit like Magic. - I'm building little robots. - I'm finding new graphical maps - and just....

And the ending is super-satisfying.

Yeah. I like this game. I love this game. Now I'm going to go back and see if I can be a Worldsmith at the harder difficulty levels. And I really like the graphics.

Five stars. Obviously.

Now onto Counterfeit Monkey and Superluminal Vagrant Twin.

I love the fact I'm playing IF again.

(question - have these guys done anything else? I can see there's loads of games by Andrew Plotkin, but I cant find anything else by interactive fables)

I went on a spending spree. I bought this and Worldsmith and No Man's Sky all about the same time.

Two hours of playing No Man's sky which cost me a small fortune and was developed by a big team and has been in production for years and I'm bored. Two weeks later playing Hadean Lands and Worldsmith - probably developed by a single person in their bedroom and buyable for a fifth the price - and I'm still entranced. A review for Worldsmith next.

But first: Hadean Lands.

Straight up: This is a great game. Perhaps one of the best text games I've ever played. I remember loving Planetfall and Trinity. And I love this just as much or maybe more.

I'm pretty late to the party, so a description of what it's about is probably redundant. Suffice it to say : Alchemy in a spaceship? Genius.

The only time I found myself tutting in annoyance was during the late-middle of the game when I had about a billion things and wasn't entirely sure what to do next. Even with the super-cool reset and single command redo ability I felt like I was smushing stuff together at random to see if it worked. I hit online hints up pretty hard.

And I was a bit irritated by the ending. Say what? I like an open ended story, but after all that effort in getting there I wanted a bit more of a reward.

There's too much greatness here to be picky and let such minor quibbles ruin a superb game. Five stars!

First text adventure I've played for several years. The medium seems to have come a long way since I last played. Finally getting round to writing up some reviews of the few games I've played over last couple of weeks.

Anchorhead - I had heard good things but was really impressed by the level of detail and immersive experience of it all. The puzzles are tight and nicely integrated. I had a couple of verb guessing moments when I had to go on line - I was on the right track but wasn't quite there.

Occasionally I felt I was wandering around looking for something to do - but, then again, you could probably attribute that to the my text adventuring rustiness from so many years away.

I do like gruesome Lovecraftian imagery and Anchorhead didn't disappoint.

Star ratings are hard and comparative. I think four. Especially given the next two games I played.